Abre los ojos. Open your eyes : a Pilot study regarding code-switching usage in three musical films released in 2021

Abstract

Themes of representation and validation through various audio-visual mediums, such as film, have gained prominence over the years due to the public’s desire for an accurate portrayal of different cultures and ethnicities. Rather than basing characters and stories on flawed or stereotyped narratives, different tactics have been employed to avoid pejorative depictions to make audiences feel accurately represented. Code-switching (CS) through lines with planned speech has become a tool with which filmmakers are able to portray groups of bilingual and multilingual speakers and their cultural and identity ties to the languages they speak. This investigation has selected three films West Side Story (2021 version), In the Heights, and Encanto, for analysis of the English and Spanish codeswitched lines used throughout each of these three movies, respectively. The purpose of this research investigation is to delve into the accuracy and communality of codeswitched lines that are used when portraying Latino characters and their stories in Hollywood films that were released in 2021. The code-switched lines were analyzed and quantified using Poplack’s types of CS, known as Single Word or Tag, Inter-sentential, and Intra-sentential switches. The overall aim is to determine whether or not these films embrace and somewhat reflect the real-life interactions in which English and Spanish bilinguals might engage in their everyday lives.